It has heretofore been suggested that lint and other fiber waste can be removed from textile machines by blowing currents of air on the machines and by utilizing vacuum to remove the lint from the floor and other areas of the machines. It has also been suggested that such apparatus can be moved along the row of machines to collect the fiber waste. Two types of such apparatus have been heretofore provided. In one type, the filters are periodically manually cleaned, while in another type, the filters are automatically cleaned as the apparatus is moved past a stationary clean-out station.
Where apparatus of the manual type has been provided and it is later necessary to convert to automatic clean-out, it has heretofore been necessary to replace the equipment. Such replacement obviously is costly and results in unnecessary discarding of equipment.
Among the objects of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus wherein lint collected by the textile cleaning apparatus may be automatically removed; wherein such apparatus utilizes novel means for collecting the lint; and wherein such apparatus is so constructed and arranged that it may be converted from an initial manual type of clean-out to an automatic clean-out at minimum cost and with minimum labor.